Crazy About Sugar!
by girl.with.many.faces
Summary: Harry Potter was cursed...he just never knew it. Harry had the power to make anyone fall in love with him. Anyone. It didn't matter their gender. It didn't matter that he (thinks) he's straight. Suddenly lost in another dimension, Harry is told by a magical talking frog that his only way home is to find the Sugar Rune which is hidden in the heart of someone at Alternate-Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Fifteen wasn't a horrible age to be. It was just unfortunate that the boy, now fifteen had only been, a day ago, seventeen years of age.

He'd relished in his freedom, of finally not needing to have his placement or fate decided by adults. Only for it to be taken away as soon as he got it.

As soon as the war was over and Voldemort was dead.

"You ready, Harry?" A red toad asked him, jumping up onto his shoulder.

"Yeah…" Harry let out a sigh.

How the hell had this even happened?

_Harry turned, feeling exhausted as the claps and cheers of the crowd grew louder. He'd done it. It was over._

_There was so much to do. He helped with the injured and the corpses of the dead._

_Finally, Hermione convinced him to go get some sleep in the Gryffindor dormitory. He lay down, going to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow._

_The next thing he knew, he was waking up on the streets of a muggle alley, very thoroughly confused._

"_Hello?"  
He looked down to see a red toad._

"_You're the one." The toad said._

"_Uh…" Harry didn't know how to respond._

_How was one supposed to respond to a talking toad anyways?_

"_My name is Chocolate." The toad introduced its self, "I'm from the Sugar Kingdom."  
"The…" Harry trailed off, not sure what that was._

"_A kingdom in another world." Chocolate explained, "I think…I'm supposed to help you. I sense the magic of my world in you. You're the one."  
"The…I'm sorry. I must be going crazy." Harry shook his head, "I'm not the chosen one anymore. Voldemort is gone."  
"Not in this world."_

_Harry's attention snapped back to Chocolate,  
"What do you mean?"_

"_This is a reality different from your own." Chocolate explained to him, "I mean, he might be gone in this world…I don't know. He also might not be. Different realities mean differences. People living when they might be dead in another world. People dead in this world where they're alive in another. There's always a deviation point that causes the change."  
"How did I wind up here?" Harry wanted to know, "How do I get back?"_

_Chocolate hopped a few times. Was this what a frog looked like when it was trying to pace? Harry wondered._

"_You have a special power." Chocolate said, "The Blessing of Aphrodite."  
"The…what?" Harry asked uncomfortably? He decided to try getting up off the ground, only for his legs to give._

_He felt weak._

"_You have the power to make anyone fall in love with you." Chocolate explained, "Men, women, anyone could potentially fall for you."  
"Are you sure?" Harry asked Chocolate doubtfully, "And, wait, even if I could do something like that, I wouldn't. I mean, not unless I fell in love too. I mean…"  
"I'm sure." Chocolate insisted, "Something pulled you to this world, I don't know what. But that blessing might be helpful to get you back."_

"_How?" Harry wanted to know, now finally able to stand._

"_I'm here looking for the Sugar Rune." Chocolate explained to him, "The Sugar Rune is a talisman. It was lost a while back and…we think it's inside of someone's heart crystal."  
"Heart crystal?" It was all so absurd!_

"_A heart crystal," Chocolate explained, "Is something all people have. It's something that the soul creates when its extremely happy. There are two different methods to extract a heart crystal. The first method is...well, it would kill them. The second method is to make a person fall in love with you."  
Harry shifted uncomfortably,_

"_Uh…"  
"That's why." Chocolate looked up at Harry, "I need your help. I don't know how you got here…but I haven't seen anyone with the Blessing of Aphrodite in centuries! You're my only hope, and I think I might be yours too."  
_

He was fifteen again. Fifteen years old according to magic. Which meant he needed to go back to school. Back to Hogwarts.

The year was nineteen ninety-five. The beginning of his fifth year in his timeline too.

Chocolate had been teaching him magic. Magic he hadn't even heard of before. Magic that drew power from love and light. It was something Harry had never seen before. More powerful than anything he had ever seen before.

He couldn't believe what he was planning to do…

The floo in Dumbledore's office blazed to life. Seeing the young man in the flames, he allowed him entry.

Harry stepped through.

The Dumbledore he knew was dead. This man…he needed to remind himself that this man wasn't him.

The headmaster's eyebrows rose with surprise as he looked Harry over.

"Ah, forgive me." Dumbledore shook his head, "You look so much like someone I know…What was your name again? Forgive me."  
"Harry, sir." Harry spoke, feeling a tad uncertain.

The Harry Potter of this world had died when he was only an infant according to the papers. Still, his name drew a sharp breath from the headmaster.

"Harry Wintergreen."

Wintergreen was Chocolate's last name. She'd given him the name after using adoption magic. A magic unique to her world.

"This is Chocolate." He added, introducing the red and brown frog on his shoulder.

"A unique name." Dumbledore said oddly, "Both of your names. From your letter…you wish to seek asylum at Hogwarts, is that correct?"

"Yes, sir." Harry nodded, going with the story he and Chocolate had come up with, "My father was…he's aware Voldemort's back."

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose at the casual use of the dark lord's name.

Apparently, that wasn't common in this world either.

"He's been silenced, though." Harry looked away, "He wants me to attend Hogwarts to keep me out of the war."  
"Ah." Dumbledore nodded.

That was reasonable. He had a feeling he didn't want to get into the circumstances. That was fine.

"Well, we are happy to accept you, Mister Wintergreen. I believe I received payment this morning. Would you like to sit down? I'm going to have to sort you. Do you understand how the four houses work?"  
"I think so." Harry said, knowing there could be slight deviation (he wasn't too sure about how the whole dimensional thing worked exactly). "Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, right? Each house has their own dorm and you have a points system which rewards good behaviour and punishes bad."  
"That's correct." Dumbledore said, "Those are the basics."  
Harry wondered if the hat would even sort him twice.

Dumbledore took the hat off the top shelf which stirred awake.

"Beginning of the term already?" It asked drowsily.

"Not quite." Dumbledore informed, "We have someone transferring."  
The hat grunted,

"Very well…how rare. Let's see his mind, then."  
Dumbledore approached Harry,

"I must warn you, the hat can see into your mind. It will alert me if you're a Death Eater or mean Hogwarts any harm. Outside of that, it will say nothing about what it sees."  
"That's fine. I don't mean anyone any harm." Harry said confidently.

Dumbledore nodded, not doubting it. His eyes twinkled as he set the hat on his head.

That being said…there was something about this boy. There was a reason he was here. A reason he did not yet know.

His sorting took a while. Nearly five minutes, which didn't make him a true hat stall.

"Gryffindor!" The hat announced.

No alarms, as he'd expected. He took the hat off of Harry's head, then placed it back on the shelf with a small word of thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay…So, this is vaguely based off of the magical girl genre. I've had this idea knocking about my head for a while and I thought…why not make Harry Potter the main character? Although, I think I might write an actual book with a similar premise. An ordinary boy is drawn into another dimension and has to make his way back home by seducing his classmates.**

**You know, when I make these worlds, I become so glad that I don't rule this one.**

**The horrible things I put some of my characters through…Everyone in the world would be a blushing mess of mortification and no one would be able to get anything done!**

**Anyways, this story is rated T and I don't see the rating changing. This is supposed to be a light-hearted story with the most happening being a kiss or two. **

**I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters…save for Chocolate the frog. Chocolate is mine and no one can take her away from me!**

**The rest belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

Harry let out a sigh as he made his way onto Platform nine and three quarters no more than tree days after his sorting.

"You know," Chocolate said from inside his pocket, "They say the more you sigh, the more happiness you blow away."  
"Sh!" Harry hissed, "There are people all around us and I don't know how I'm going to explain a talking frog."  
"Relax a little." Chocolate said lazily.

Harry closed his eyes,

"How does a talking frog own a vault with enough money to pay for schooling, supplies and a base anyways?"  
"I'll have you know, I'm a very important talking frog."

"Of course, you are." Harry let out another sigh.

How had his life become like this?

He'd had time to do a bit more research on this world. Apparently, on October thirty first nineteen eighty-one, Voldemort had killed this world's Harry Potter and it had been his father, who had been stunned by the door who had gotten up and killed the dark lord in revenge.

Both of his parents had survived the attack.

He didn't know whether they were both still alive or not.

Neville Longbottom had died only last year after Voldemort had taken his blood in order to be resurrected.

It made some sense, Harry thought to himself.

With this world's Harry Potter gone, Voldemort didn't want there to be any further possibility that the prophecy might come true.

If Harry were to make a guess, he'd say the divergent point was Voldemort choosing to stun his parents rather than kill them.

_It's okay, Harry_, He told himself, _You don't have to get involved. Just focus on finding the Sugar Rune._

How the heck was he supposed to make people fall in love with him anyways? He felt his face heat up at the thought.

He went to fix his glasses, only to find they weren't there anymore.

Chocolate had fixed his eyesight with her magic. How she had done that…Well, he had found that the strange, magical frog seemed to have some weird magic healing powers. She'd even gotten rid of his scars…all of his scars. Even the scar Voldemort had given him long ago.

He didn't know how he should feel about that.

His scars were almost like badges. And at the same time, painful reminders too.

He stored his trunk away and found an empty compartment. He sat down by the window and took out a book that Chocolate had made him buy.

It was on divination.

The subject he was least interested in.

Chocolate said that it was a 'romantic' subject and that girls really liked it. If he was going to make people fall in love with him, then he needed to take it seriously.

Her reason for healing his eyes had been similar.

"_You have beautiful eyes. They're very attractive and a lot of people will think they're pretty."_

He didn't really like the whole being called 'pretty' thing.

But, he supposed that if he was serious about this he was going to have to follow Chocolate's advice to some extent. Plus, he could see!

"First, you're going to have to pick a target." Chocolate spoke.

"Huh?" Harry looked down as she hopped out of his shirt pocket and landed on his lap.

"A target." Chocolate repeated, "To enamor."  
"Right…" Harry felt a little dirty about the whole thing.

Making people fall in love with him in order to find the Sugar Rune. His chance at getting home.

The door to the compartment opened up and a very familiar girl came in. A girl with dirty blond hair and grey eyes, wand tucked away behind her ear and holding an edition of the Quibbler.

"May I sit here?" She requested, "It seems there are no other compartments available."  
"Of course." Harry said with a slight smile.

This wasn't _his _Luna. She didn't know him. Didn't recognise him.

He looked down to see that Chocolate was staring at him. She made a gesture with her head towards Luna.

Harry closed his eyes.

Luna? He needed to…er, seduce her? Merlin forgive him…

"That's the Quibbler, right?" Harry looked at the cover. It looked quite familiar, "I've read a few copies. Makes far more sense than the Prophet does."  
Luna looked up at him, eyes a bit wide. Like she didn't believe he was talking to her.

"They find the Crumple Horned Snorkack yet?" Harry decided to ask.

"No…" Luna trailed off, staring at him still, "You read daddy's magazine?"  
"Daddy?" Harry repeated, pretending to be confused, "Your father is one of the writers?"  
"He's the editor and owner." Luna said.

"Oh, then that must mean you're Luna Lovegood."

"I am." Luna said, a smile forming on her face, "I should warn you, not a lot of people share our beliefs."

Harry hummed,

"I'm not sure it's a belief. I'm just open to the idea that there might be things in this world we don't know about. That being said, I have a really close friend who believes it avidly. I usually read her copy of the Quibbler. She's…missing."  
"I'm sorry." Luna said sympathetically.

"Don't worry." Harry said with a slight smile, "Maybe if I read the magazine, I'll get a little closer to her, you know?"  
Luna pulled out the subscription page and handed it to him.

"Thanks." Harry said, "I'll send it tonight. Oh, right. I think I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Harry. Harry Wintergreen. It's nice to meet you, Luna. I can call you Luna, right?"  
"Of course." Luna smiled at him, "And…I can call you Harry, right?"

"Of course." Harry grinned, a bit lopsidedly, "I just transferred to Hogwarts this year. My dad wants me protected, see and…I guess he thinks Hogwarts is the safest place right now. I don't have any friends here. Wanna be friends?"  
"Really?" Luna looked at him with round eyes.

Harry felt sicker than ever. He was taking advantage of her but…even if he wasn't, he'd still want to be her friend. Any Luna in any universe deserved friends.

"You could show me around Hogwarts when we get there." Harry suggested, "And…maybe you could tell me how to best avoid Nargles."

Nargles meant thieves, Harry recalled. Magical creatures that stole things from you for no particular reason.

"Honestly, I've been having quite a bit of trouble with them." Luna confessed, "I fear Hogwarts has quite the infestation."  
"Yikes." Harry grimaced, knowing that meant she was being bullied, "Well, if you ever need help finding any missing items, I can help you. You are showing me around the castle, after all. It's only right to help you if you wind up missing anything."  
"Really?" Luna looked stunned.

"Well, we're friends now, right?" Harry said simply.

Damn, he hated how easy this was.  
The fact was, he knew Luna really well. He knew what to say to win her over. At the same time…he really did want to be her friend. He didn't want to hurt her, and he knew that was exactly what he was going to do.

He was just going to have to try his best not to cause too much damage.

Harry drew in a sharp breath when he felt the locket around his neck start to burn.

Already? Luna was enamoured with him…already?

He pulled the chain around his neck and took out a golden locket in the shape of a star. He opened it up and Luna's eyes suddenly closed. It was like she was suspended by some sort of magic.

A crystal blue heart materialized right in front of her heart.

Chocolate shook her head,

"The Sugar Rune isn't here." She looked up at Harry, "Do you want to collect it?"  
"C-collect it?" Harry looked down at the frog, "S-she'll die, won't she?"  
"Of course, not!" Chocolate shouted disbelievingly, "This is…well, it's kind of like 'excess energy.' She doesn't need it. She can materialize more if she wanted to. But using crystal heart energy can help. It can turn into a weapon and…well, in times like these, I hate to say it, Harry, but you might wind up in a situation where it will be useful. Hurry and take it! Her suspension won't last forever!"  
Harry took the crystal heart from Luna.

"Now hold it up to your open locket." Chocolate ordered him.

Harry held it up the locket, only to find the crystal absorbed.

Luna broke from her suspension. She looked confused, blinking her eyes. Harry closed up his locket quickly and hastily put it away.

"What book is that?" She asked Harry, as though nothing had happened.

Harry automatically started summarizing what he'd learned from the book. He tried making it sound interesting. It wasn't particularly, but Luna was listening and it was something to talk about.

He swore that he would remain Luna's friend no matter what.

The compartment door slid open and Harry felt his heart skip a beat.

It was Ginny.

No. This wasn't _his _Ginny. This Ginny was younger, her eyes far more innocent, but with a deep sadness. A tiredness that the old Ginny had too. She'd seen something. Something that had left her weary and a bit weathered.

"Hey, Luna." She greeted the blond, "There's nowhere to sit and I was wondering…"  
"Sure." Luna said, although she sounded a touch tense for some reason.

Ginny looked over at Harry,

"Hi. I don't think I've seen you before."  
"Harry." Harry introduced himself, "Harry Wintergreen."

"I'm Ginny." Ginny introduced, "Ginny Weasley."

"Nice to meet you." Harry offered her a small half-smile.

"So, what house are you in, Harry?" Ginny asked him.

"Gryffindor." Harry answered, "I'm a fifth year."  
"I'm in Gryffindor too." Ginny frowned, "But I've never seen you before."  
"I transferred in just this year." Harry said awkwardly, "My father believes Voldemort is back and…well, he thinks that the safest place for me is at Hogwarts right now."

Ginny gasped, hardly believing anyone other than Dumbledore had the audacity to say the dark lord's name.

Harry decided to ignore it.

"What houses are you guys in?"

"Ravenclaw." Luna said, looking a tad disappointed.

"Really?" Harry said conversationally, "Well then, we're going to have to find a way to eat together somehow. I think you're allowed to do that at breakfasts and during lunch to my recollection. Its just supper when we need to eat at our own tables."

"You two are friends?" Ginny looked between the two of them.

"Yup." Luna beamed, she sounded quite happy in fact.

"Definitely." Harry said with absolute certainly. He didn't want to give Luna any room for doubt, or question whether or not their friendship was true.

"Well, any friend of Luna's is a friend of mine." Ginny said with a smile.

Harry returned the smile,

"Thanks. It's tough transferring to a big school like this. Maybe you can show me where the Gryffindor common room is later."

"I'd be happy to." Ginny agreed.

The three of them started talking. For a while, Harry almost forgot that they weren't his old friends. Everything just seemed…normal.

It was almost eerie.

The door to their compartment slid open not even thirty minutes in revealing Ron and Hermione.

Both of them looked horribly tired.

They hadn't been like that before, Harry thought. Not in his world. Well, they had a bit later on, but not fifth year, certainly.

"Hey, Gin. Mind if we stay here a while?" Ron asked his sister.

"Sure." Ginny nodded, "Ron, Hermione, meet Luna Lovegood and Harry Wintergreen. Harry, Luna, this is Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, one of my older brothers."  
"Nice to meet you." Harry smiled at them both.

If felt strained though.

"Hermione and Ron are both prefects." Ginny told Harry, "For Gryffindor."  
"Oh." Harry said, pretending that the information was new to him, "I just transferred to Hogwarts."

"Transferred?" Hermione said oddly.

"Yeah. My dad thinks Voldemort is back."  
There was another round of gasps as Harry said his name. Luna was the only one who didn't make a sound.

"He thought it would be safer for me here." Harry explained.

"Y-you said his name!" Ron stuttered out.

"It's just a name." Harry shrugged his shoulders, "No taboo on it yet. There's no reason to not call him by his name, right?"  
"I…suppose…" Hermione trailed off.

"So, a prefect? Sounds like a lot of responsibility. You guys must be smart." Harry said, deciding to start off with a compliment, "Guess I know who to go to if I have trouble understanding school work."  
Both of them seemed to blush a bit.

"Er, well, you should probably go to Hermione." Ron murmured, "She's really clever. Smarter than anyone else in our year. Probably smarter than anyone in the school, actually."  
Hermione looked a bit redder than before.

"I'll keep that in mind." Harry dipped his chin.

The two sat down, Hermione was beside Luna and Ron sat beside Hermione.

"Try to avoid the Slytherins." Ron told him.

"Why?" Harry inquired.  
He already knew the reason.

"Well…a lot of them are supporters of you-know-who." Ron said cautiously, "Gryffindor also has a rivalry with them. It can get pretty nasty."  
"Thanks for the warning." Harry said.

He hadn't really thought of that.

He needed to make people fall in love with him in order to find the Sugar Rune but…what if the Sugar Rune was attached to the heart of a Slytherin?

Anything was possible.

"You'll never guess who they made Slytherin prefect, by the way." Ron said looking at Ginny.

"Who?" Ginny asked warily.

"Malfoy." Ron told her.

"What!? Why?" Ginny looked shocked and horrified by the news.

"Malfoy?" Harry repeated, "Like…Draco Malfoy?"

"Yeah, you met him?" Ron asked Harry.

"No." Harry shook his head, "Only know him by his reputation. I hear he's a real spoiled brat."  
"You don't know the half of it." Ron grumbled.

Actually, he did.

Ugh, he had to deal with a fifteen-year-old Draco Malfoy again. The first time was quite enough, thank you.

As though his name had somehow summoned him, Draco Malfoy opened the compartment door. Crabbe and Goyle were each standing behind him.

"So, where's Longbottom? Oh, wait…" Malfoy smiled nastily.

Ron's fists clenched. Harry knew he was going to sock him in the jaw. Harry knew that he would do the same.

Instead, Harry stood up,

"How would you feel if the boy behind you died?" He said all of a sudden.

Everyone stared at Harry.

He'd panicked.

He just knew that if Ron hit Malfoy, he might get his Prefect privileges revoked right away and that was probably what Malfoy wanted.

"Just, don't make fun of that stuff, man." Harry gave him a weird look, "It's sick."  
"And who are you?" Malfoy sneered.

Harry stepped towards him. He stepped so close to him that their lips were almost touching.

Malfoy froze, a bit startled at having his personal space invaded like that. He leaped back.

"What are you –"

The compartment door slammed closed. Harry took out his wand, a pale white wand that Chocolate had gotten for him, then cast a spell on the lock.

"That will do." Harry said quietly, then took a seat on the bench, back in his spot.

They all stared at him.

"How did you…" Ron trailed off.

"When you invade someone's personal space like that, it makes them uncomfortable and they back off." Harry paused, "Though I'm surprised it took Malfoy so long to run away. You'd think he wanted me to kiss him."

The slamming on the compartment door stopped and the Slytherin boys walked off, apparently fed up with the whole thing.

Harry unlocked the compartment door, allowing people to come and go as they please.

He had a feeling he'd scored some points with his 'new' friends.


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay, so I've heard so many Sirius-Serious jokes…but no one has touched on the fact that Sirius's initials are SOB. I mean…come on! There are so many jokes in there and has Sirius ever used them? Would he pass up such a joke if he had thought of it? I THINK NOT!**

**Sirius, you are one SOB. And one of my favourite characters.**

**So far, I haven't written him into this story. Should I? Should I not? No idea…just like I have no clue how no one has played around with this. This is comedy gold, dang it!  
Before I go into a further rant,**

**I do not own Harry Potter. I wish I did. I don't.**

**Thank you, J.K. Rowling for bringing the Harry Potter series into this world!**

**Now, let us continue!**

It wasn't too long before they had reached Hogwarts. Harry followed the group to the carriages being drawn by thestrals. He decided to sit with Luna most of the way, not wanting to neglect her.

Fifth year…that meant Umbridge all over again.

He felt miserable at the very thought. He'd been trying to mentally prepare for it, but it was difficult. He'd just finished fighting a war and now, it was being thrown right back into it.

No. He told himself. He just had to find the Sugar Rune.

He didn't have to fight a war. He didn't have to do it all over again. He just needed to find the talisman that would send him home.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

A very, very big haystack.

Once the carriages landed, they all got off and made their way through the open doors of the castle, walking down the halls until they came to the Great Hall.

Harry took his spot at the Gryffindor table. He looked up at the professor's table and froze.

Umbridge wasn't there.

No…this was far worse than Umbridge.

A woman with red hair and green eyes, his eyes, was sitting where Umbridge had sat in the original timeline.

"No…" Harry whispered.

"Harry?" Ron looked over at him.

Harry shook himself from his mental panic,

"Ah, sorry." Harry said, pretty sure he didn't look too good right now, "Just…can't remember if I packed my potions textbook."  
"Yikes." Ron said, "Snape is going to give you hell if you forgot."  
Harry gave him a shaky smile,

"I'm sure I'll think of something. My father can send it to me through the post, right?"

"Right." Ron said, "Make sure you don't forget to check tonight or it'll never get here before tomorrow."  
"Right." Harry looked back up at the teacher's table as Ron turned away.

Lily Potter was sitting at the table, eyes traveling around the room.

He hoped she wouldn't spot him. He prayed that if she did that she wouldn't recognise him.

How was he going to deal with this?

While his mind was in a mental battle, the first years came in to be sorted.

He forced himself to watch them get sorted and clap along. He didn't want to be caught staring. If he was, well, he didn't want to have to explain himself.

After the sorting, Harry kept his head down for supper. He was twitchy by the time Dumbledore got to his start-of-term announcements.

After what felt like an eternity, he was finally done and Harry got up, rushing off.

"Harry?" Hermione called after him.

Harry forgot that he wasn't supposed to know where he was going. He made a sharp turn, trying to find a private place away from everyone else. Away from prying ears so that he could talk to Chocolate.

This was too much for him.

He wasn't sure he could do this.

No, he needed to. He needed to get home to everyone safely. The war was over and they were probably all looking for him. Worried he might be dead or…or worse!

He made a sharp turn towards the stairs only to bump into someone.

"Wha!" A male voice cried out suddenly.

Harry automatically grabbed the stranger's wrist, trying to stop him from falling, only to freeze when he met said stranger's hazel eyes.

"Lily?" The man wondered.

Harry lost his balance, unable to deal with the shock. He fell forwards, landing on top of the man.

"Ow…" Harry groaned.

His face scrunched up. He opened his eyes to see James Potter staring at him, completely stunned. Harry stared back with perhaps a similar expression.

He looked older. More mature.

He looked like someone who had seen hell. Someone who had had their heart broken.

"Ah, sorry." Harry forced himself from his daze, "I didn't mean…are you okay?" He got up and offered him a hand.

He just needed to act natural.

"Er, yeah." James took his hand gratefully and Harry pulled him to his feet.

How had this happened?  
How had he run right into his father of all people?  
No, Harry stopped that line of thought.

He wasn't his real father. His real father was dead. He'd died at the age of twenty-one. This was just…an alternate version of his father. The man he'd have been had he survived the attack…Harry felt sick.

He looked down, seeing that James hadn't let go of his hand. He looked back up at him, their eyes met again.

"Um…you can let go now."  
"Uh, right!" James quickly let go of Harry's hand.

"Sorry, I…thought I'd explore a bit before bed." Harry said, "Guess I got excited and went a little too fast. My bad. You're alright, right?"  
"I'm…yeah. Who are you? What's your name?"  
"Harry." Harry answered automatically.

James drew in a sharp breath. Harry immediately realized his mistake.

"Harry Wintergreen."

He should have changed his first name when he'd had the chance.

Harry was sitting in the defense classroom holding a cup of tea in his hands.

How in the name of Merlin had he wound up here?

James took a seat in the seat across from him, a nervous smile on his face.

"My wife is teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts this year." He explained.

"Oh." Harry said, not sure what else he was supposed to say.

"I decided to go with her." James continued, "I mean, things are getting kind of dangerous, and there's the whole curse on the position so…yeah."  
Harry looked down at his tea and took a sip.

It tasted like cinnamon. He looked back up at James.

"So…you just invite every kid who crashes into you in for a cup of tea?" Harry tried to sound casual. He kind of failed, even to his own ears.

"Er, well, no." James said quickly, "I just…well, I know this will sound weird but…you look a lot like how I thought my son might look if he was your age."  
Harry tried not to shake.

"Oh?"

"Yeah." James looked over his face, "I mean, he died when he was just a baby. I can't help but see kids and think, Harry would be that age now, or…well, you guys have the same name too. I mean, it's normal to see your kid in other kids, right? But, I mean, I guess it was your eyes. I've never seen that shade of green before in anyone's eyes other than Lily's."  
"I get it." Harry murmured, thinking of all the times he'd seen his own parents in that adults that passed him by. How every red-headed woman made him stop to watch. How every man with messy hair caused his heart to skip a step. How every couple with a kid made him feel a horrible emptiness inside of his chest.

"Did you ever have any other kids?" Harry decided to ask him after he received a peculiar look from James.

"No." James shook his head, "Lily can't have anymore kids. She was hit by a curse and…it just wasn't in the cards." He said quickly.

Obviously, this was a sensitive subject.

Harry clutched his tea cup and took another sip.

"My mum died." Harry said, causing James to look up, "When I was little. Whenever I see a woman who resembles her even slightly…yeah." He finished lamely, "She died protecting me. I don't know what it's like to lose a kid. I know what it's like to lose a mum. To see her being murdered right in front of you and being so helpless…That got pretty dark, huh?"

"A bit." James said weakly.

There was a long silence before Harry spoke again.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts is my favourite subject." He said, "I like to think I'm quite good at it."  
James looked up at him again,

"Which house are you in?"  
"Gryffindor."

"Of course, you are." James let out a sigh.

Harry shifted a bit in his chair,

"You know, they say that when you sigh, it blows the happiness away."  
Harry wasn't sure why the first thing that had popped into his head was that stupid saying Chocolate had told him.

"Sorry." Harry said, "A friend of mine says that. It gets really annoying…"  
He felt Chocolate moving around in his pocket.

James saw the movement and seemed surprised.

"Oh, right." Harry pulled Chocolate out of her captivity, "This is Chocolate. I was told I could bring a toad. Pretty sure she's a frog though."  
James cracked a smile,

"You chose a frog over an owl?"

"I don't know what I was thinking at the time either." Harry said dryly.

Chocolate shot him an offended look.

"She's really smart though." Harry said, "She's a magic species. Just as her name suggests, she has a big sweet tooth. Chocolate is her favourite snack which…when you think about it, is kind of cannibalistic."

Well, it was, he thought as Chocolate sent him another glare.

"Weird." James said, "I've never heard of a frog that eats chocolate before."  
"It's kind of uncommon." Harry lied, "My dad had one too…before she croaked."  
James snorted,

"That's a bad joke."  
"Got you laughing though, didn't it?" Harry gave him a half shrug.

"I have a friend named Sirius." James said, "My best mate."

"Right…I've heard of him." Harry said, "Sirius Black, right?"

"Yeah, you can imagine all the jokes he comes up with a name like that." James shook his head.

"What's his middle name?" Harry asked him.

"Orion, why?" James questioned.

Harry had come up with another pun involving Sirius's name a while back but he'd never had the heart to tell it.

"Well, if his mother had wanted to get along with him, she shouldn't have called him that."

James gave him a questioning look. Harry's lips twitched,

"Sounds like a real SOB."

James paused, then the joke sunk in.

"How in the world did we miss _that _pun? How did Sirius miss it?"  
"Well, next time you talk to him, you can tell him what a huge SOB he is." Harry felt his lips move up into a big smile.

James laughed,

"I don't know…does he really need any more puns in his arsenal?"

"You'd really deny him the opportunity to use that one?" Harry asked him, "Some friend."  
James snorted,

"I have a feeling you two would get along swimmingly."  
Harry cracked another smile,

"Sounds like a fun person. It's good to keep people like that nearby. Especially during the darker times." Harry met his eyes again, "You know…I think a famous writer once said, 'go as dark as you want, but for god's sakes tell a joke.' Or…something like that. I think that might apply to life too."

He took another sip of tea, only to find that he'd reached the end of his drink.


	4. Chapter 4

**This is fun…publishing my old stories…I can see where I've improved…and where I have failed.**

**It's been forever since I've published anything on Fanfiction. I plan on posting a lot of stuff. You know…just to see.**

**A lot of this stuff is bad, not gonna lie.**

**But I'm not going to publish the real trash fics. I shall only publish things that make sense!**

**No. Seriously. I found an old fic about Harry transforming into a magical girl and being harassed by a perverted bunny. The first part of the fic was about him lying to people about being a magical exterminator and warning them all to eat more carrots to ward them off.**

**What was I thinking?**

**Anyways, I don't own Harry Potter. If I did…you know, maybe it's for the best that I don't.**

Harry walked down the hall towards Gryffindor tower.

"I know it's hard." Chocolate said from her position on his shoulder.

"You don't know the half of it." Harry murmured, "I have to basically seduce all the girls I find in order to obtain their crystal hearts."  
"And boys."  
"Huh?" Harry paused.

"Boys have crystal hearts too." Chocolate informed him, "Due to the Blessing of Aphrodite, you could certainly make them fall for you too."  
Harry paled a bit,

"Er…guys too? Like…er…"  
"What's wrong with that?" Chocolate asked him, "Boys can fall in love just like girls do."  
"But…I'm a guy."  
"So?"

Clearly, this conversation was not going to go anywhere.

"So, the Sugar Rune could be in a bloke's crystal heart too, huh?" He didn't know what he was going to do about that…Was there a difference between winning a girl's heart and winning a boy's?

"Speaking of, have you thought about your next target?" Chocolate asked him.

"No." Harry shook his head glumly.

He didn't really want to continue.

"It seems to be easier to aim for the hearts of those you know, or knew in your other world. Assuming their personalities aren't too different." Chocolate added.

"Why don't you choose then?" Harry was just about to give up on the whole thing, "It doesn't matter which order we go in, right?"  
"Not particularly…" Chocolate pondered on this, "Alright, why not aim for a boy next, then?"  
"Urk."

"You don't need to look so ill! What is with the men in this dimension and being so terrified of other men? It's bizarre. Alright, aim for Hermione next." Chocolate decided.

"Hermione?" Harry's heart sank a little.

Harry drew in a deep breath. He placed a hand on his chest, just over where the locket was beneath his shirt.

He had Luna's heart crystal stored away. Taking people's heart crystals…was this whole situation really okay?

He knew that the heart crystal he had was a manifestation of Luna's love for him. Drawing out a heart crystal could draw a talisman to the surface. A talisman like the Sugar Rune.

Having promised to eat with Luna for breakfast, Harry sat down at the Ravenclaw table. He listened to Luna talk about all of her magical creatures while Harry listened with patience, adding in a few things now and then, including a few questions.

Harry had divination first, then potions.

Trelawney was just as he had remembered her, and just as insufferable. But he tried to take the class seriously upon Chocolate's suggestion, even going so far as to raise his hand a few times.

"You seem really into divination." Ron said as they walked down the hall towards their next class, Potions.

Harry gave a slight shrug.

"I was told I should take it a little more seriously. There are some interesting parts to it though."  
Ron gave him a doubtful look as they met up with Hermione half-way to the class.

"So, what are you two talking about?" She asked them.

"Divination." Ron said absently.

Harry tensed a bit, knowing that Hermione was supposed to be his next target.

Hermione gave an annoyed sniff,

"Divination is more of a joke subject."  
"I don't think so." Harry said, although more for the sake of argument.

Hermione gave him a condescending look,

"Trelawney is always predicting things, even people's deaths and I have yet to see any of those come true."  
"I noticed that too, actually." Harry paused, "That doesn't mean the subject is trash though."  
He thought about his other divination teacher in fifth year, Firenze. He'd actually been quite good at the subject and learned a lot.

Once Trelawney had gone, he'd actually wondered if maybe there was more to divination than he'd originally thought, although he'd never actually explored it.

"Seers have been around for centuries." Harry said, "Making prophecies, predicting catastrophes. If they were all wrong, don't you think the subject would have died out around now? Besides, I know Trelawney isn't the best professor, but that doesn't mean there's no value in the subject as a whole."  
Hermione shifted a bit.

He was making a logical argument.

"If divination is so good, why was Trelawney the best Dumbledore could hire?"

"If she was, then why not just dispel the subject?" Harry rebutted, "The headmaster has the power to get rid of a subject if he doesn't think it's useful anymore, or if the subject matter is out of date. While I agree that what Trelawney is teaching isn't really the best of standards, I think there's probably another reason she's here."

"Like what?" Hermione looked surprised.

Harry hummed,

"That would entirely depend on when she came here. If I were to make a bet…I'd say she came sometime during the last war. Maybe…" He trailed off.

It seemed to click in Hermione's mind,

"You think that Dumbledore is protecting her from you-know-who?"  
"I think it's a possibility." Harry agreed, "Maybe she witnessed something. Maybe she has some valuable information that Voldemort needed, maybe she was being used as some sort of leverage. Or maybe…"  
"Maybe?" Hermione repeated in a whisper.

"Maybe she made an actual prophecy." Harry pretended to think.

Hermione frowned.

"Voldemort was apparently obsessed with that stuff." Harry stopped her from interrupting him, "From what I know, prophecies involve the prophet going into some sort of trance. She wouldn't even remember it if that were the case. A prophecy would explain a lot, actually."  
Now curious, Hermione decided to ask,

"How so?"

"Well…" Harry trailed off, "It was always a mystery why Voldemort went after the Potters and the Longbottoms. More specifically, two babies who couldn't pose even a slight threat against him. I bet you, if you were to look into it, you'd see some similarities."  
"Similarities?" Hermione repeated.

"Maybe between the parents, the birthdays of the two boys, just…something. Something vague like that. Of course, there's no telling if that's actually true. Not without asking Dumbledore or the Potters directly and that would be pretty rude." 

The three of them sat down in potions just before Snape could arrive.

"Settle down." The potions master said when he entered.

Although they had already gone silent the moment the doors had opened. He made his way to his desk and took a seat, then he started roll.

Harry's name was further down than he was used to. The second last one, in fact.

"Wintergreen, Harry."  
"Here." Harry called.

Snape looked up, then did a double take. He furrowed his brow at him, as though confused by his presence in his classroom.

He returned to roll.

"Zabini, Blaise."  
"Here." Blaise said smartly.

Roll was over and they dove into their potions lesson.

Yeah, Harry thought, he really should have changed his first name.

Snape conjured the recipe onto the blackboard and had them all get started. Harry collected some ingredients, aware of Snape's eyes on him all the while.

How could he have already drawn the man's attention?

Harry was pretty good at potions. Without Snape breathing down his neck, he had vastly improved under Slughorn's tutelage. Not to mention, he knew a lot of tricks from the 'half-blood prince.'

Harry finished up his portion long before anyone else.

He'd been trying to lag a little to match everyone else's pace, but with Snape watching him like a hawk, he was too jittery and all he could do was focus on his potion.

He cursed in his head.

Why did he have to look so much like his father? Why did his parents have to be here at all?

Ugh!

Hermione was looking over at his potion with surprise. She hadn't been the first one to finish…

Harry bottled up his potion and labeled his vial with his name, making extra certain to label his last name as Wintergreen.

He placed the vial on Snape's desk, then went back to his table and opened up a book, taking small notes in the margins.

It was all stuff he already knew…

Severus Snape sat down at the professor's table in the great hall, completely drained. He glared over at Dumbledore. The headmaster turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Who is he?" Snape demanded.

"Who is who, Severus?" Dumbledore said cautiously.

"You know who I'm talking about, Albus." Snape snapped, "That boy. Wintergreen."  
James perked up in his spot, but said nothing.

Dumbledore's lips formed a line,  
"I don't know." He confessed.

Snape frowned.

"The boy came to me for help." Dumbledore explained, "I did notice he had some…interesting features. I cannot say whether it's coincidental or if there's something else there. The sorting hat does not believe he means any harm. That being said, that does not mean he doesn't have other motives for coming here. Keep an eye on him for now."  
Snape's eyes darkened, they traveled over to Lily who appeared quite lost. He got up from his spot.

No doubt seeing Wintergreen would bring back those terrible feelings she'd been holding on to for so long.

He didn't want to be in her way when she erupted.

"Good afternoon, class." Lily said as the students all took their places at their desks.

There were some mumbled 'good afternoon's' in there. Lily opened up her book and started taking rollcall.

She paused when she reached the W's. Wintergreen. That was the name that Snape had mentioned. She wondered if maybe she could spot him and find out just what was so worrying about the boy.

"Wintergreen, Harry."

"Here." A somewhat quiet voice said.

She drew in a sharp breath.

James? No. This boy was younger. He looked like James though. Had James been younger, or had this boy been older and worn glasses, they could have been twins!

Except for the eyes.

Eyes that Lily saw all the time when she looked in the mirror.

How?

She was stunned a moment, forgetting where she was exactly.

"Professor?" One of the students broke her away from her daze.

She looked down at the form again. It seemed Wintergreen's name was the last name on the list in this class.

"Right, I suppose I ought to start with introductions." She stood up, "I'm Professor Potter, your new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor."

Harry, in the meantime, had started jotting down notes.

It seemed Lily Potter was going to start with theory, then move on to the practical in the next class. She had a similar teaching style to Flitwick, Harry observed.

He had heard that charms was her favourite class.

Harry felt a pain in his heart, trying his best to push it down and ignore it.

But it was difficult.

"Harry?" Hermione caught up with him after classes were done.

"Hm?" Harry asked, tipping his head to the side questioningly.

"Before," Hermione said, "Professor Potter seemed surprised to see you. Like you'd met before. Professor Snape acted similarly."  
"I noticed that too." Harry dipped his chin, "I know why, but…I think I should respect their privacy on the matter. It's not my secret to tell and it would be wrong to tell other people about it, especially when I'm pretty sure they don't want anyone to know." He half-lied.

Hermione gave him a strange look,

"Okay…"

Harry took a deep breath,

"I look like someone they know. But, obviously, I'm not that person."  
Hermione looked uncertain.

He knew that look. Like there was some sort of mystery to be solved.

"Wanna head to the library?" Harry asked her, "We already have a load of homework. I think we should try to get a head start on things."  
"That's a good idea." Hermione agreed.

Ron groaned in the background, then quickly tried to make his escape.

"I'm not going to help with your assignments if you don't work with us, Ron."  
Hermione knew exactly what to say to get him to comply, Harry couldn't help but smile a little at their antics.

Harry looked up at Hermione and Ron as they studied in the library together.

Somehow, he was going to have to make both of them fall in love with him…but how?

Ah, there's something, Harry thought when he caught site of a button Hermione had pinned to her chest.

"What's SPEW?" Harry asked.

Ron gave Harry a horrified look and Harry knew the reason why. Normally he and Ron did all they could to avoid ever mentioning SPEW and here he had gone out of his way to get Hermione to go on a rant about house elf rights.

"It's an organization I created to teach people about house elf rights." Hermione explained.

"Oh, that's cool." Harry said, "I haven't heard of any other organizations like that, come to think of it. How far do you plan on taking it?"  
"I don't really know yet." Hermione said, "I mean, I'm selling buttons right now and I'm trying to free some of the elves."  
Harry hummed,

"Going straight to setting them free might not work." Harry said seriously, "I mean, think about it, where are they supposed to go? How are they supposed to make a living when there are so many elves that will willingly give free labour? Where will they sleep? I think those are the questions you'll have to focus on before trying to free them."  
"You might be right." Hermione said, "But the elves have been taking some of my knitted hats from the common room."  
Harry knew that the perpetrator of that was likely Dobby.

"You know," Harry said, "The Prophet might not be interested in something like that yet, but maybe you could contact Xenophilius Lovegood."  
"Who?" Hermione asked him.

"He's the editor and owner of the Quibbler." Harry explained, "If you write an article and send it to him, he might publish it. It would have to be really good though, and convincing. Believe it or not, a lot of people read the Quibbler. More than you think anyways."  
Hermione was looking rather contemplative,

"That might be a good idea."  
"You could educate people about house elves." Harry continued, "I mean, maybe even interview a few? I bet there are a ton of them in the kitchens here. Make sure they get their view of things across. I can help you come up with a list of questions if you want. I wonder if house elves have their own customs or traditions like wizarding families. I bet they're quite different."

Alright, so he wasn't really interested. But Hermione was and she was the one he needed to win over right now.

"Bloody hell, I can't believe there's someone out there just as crazy as you, Hermione." Ron shook his head.

"Ron! Language." Hermione hissed, looking around to make sure there weren't any first years listening in.

Hermione looked back at Harry, her face a touch pink,

"I…I think I'd like that. I'm surprised that you're so interested in house elf rights. I thought I was the only one."  
Harry hummed,

"Well…it's important that people understand each other. We all live in the same world and we all have a right to exist."

"That's what I think too." Hermione nodded along, "Would you like to buy a button?"  
"I'd love to. How much?" Harry asked her, knowing he was on the right track.


	5. Chapter 5

**Crazy About Sugar! There's a reason this fic is called that. Harry shall win all of their hearts over through food!**

**Because that makes just about as much sense as anything else I've read recently.**

**Alright. It's a weird plot, but I plan on embracing the weirdness completely!  
And yes, Harry is going to gain some pretty weird and OP powers from collecting those heart crystals.**

**I don't own Harry Potter.**

**If I did…well, you've been reading along, haven't you?**

It might have been a good thing going to the kitchens with Hermione first. Because the kitchens had given Chocolate a brilliant idea on how to win over Hermione further.

"Girls like a man who can cook." Chocolate said knowingly, "You said before that you can cook, right?"  
"Right…" Harry felt his face redden.

"Make something for her." Chocolate ordered, "Like…like brownies!"

"Brownies?" Harry shifted.

He knew that Hermione liked chocolate. Her favourite desert though was strawberry cheesecake.

"I think she'd like cheesecake." Harry murmured.

Their first Hogsmeade weekend was coming up. When it finally rolled around, Harry bought as many ingredients as he could for baking.

No doubt he'd be using this tactic again later.

The article on house elf welfare was published in the Quibbler. It hadn't taken much to convince Luna to send in word to her father.

It took him a while to bake the cake. It took him longer getting it up to Gryffindor tower without spilling or breaking it.

The fat lady let him enter after telling her the password.

It was later now, and Harry knew Hermione would be in by this time. Sure enough, she was sitting on a couch in the corner.

Harry walked over to her and set the cake down in front of her. She couldn't tell what it was due to the container Harry had used.

"What's that?" Hermione asked him.

Harry set the plates down to the side, then lifted the lid up.

On the top of the strawberry cheesecake was 'Congratulations, Hermione' written in red letters.

"You just got your first ever article published in a magazine. Did you really think we wouldn't be celebrating?"  
Hermione's mouth fell open, her face reddened,

"H-Harry, this is…"  
"I like baking, and since we found the kitchens together, I thought it would be appropriate. Is cheesecake okay? I probably should have asked…"  
"It's my favourite!" Hermione exclaimed, "But…but you helped me. I couldn't have done any of this without you!"  
"I only gave you a push." Harry denied, "You would have gotten there eventually. You're absolutely brilliant, Hermione."

"Bloody hell, mate." Ron looked at the cake with awe, "Can I have some?"  
"Well…" Harry trailed off, "It is Hermione's cake. You'll have to ask her."  
"Well, I certainly can't eat the entire thing myself!" Hermione gapped at the cake in front of her, "Harry…this is amazing. No one's ever…"  
Harry felt the locket over his chest getting warm.

He'd done it.

Some of the other Gryffindors came over wondering if they might have some cake too, and then congratulating Hermione once they realized what the cake was for.

It had been a long time since Harry had seen Hermione so happy.

Maybe…getting her to fall in love with him had been worth it in a way.

The cake had turned out well, Harry observed, taking a piece for himself to eat. Hermione would often look up at him every now and then.

It made him feel a little embarrassed.

He'd never really thought of Hermione as a love interest before.

Hermione approached him near the end, face a bit flushed,

"Harry…thank you so much. No one's ever really supported my ideas like that and…Thank you."  
Harry saw the last of the Gryffindors head up the stairs.

All along, he hadn't realized that all Hermione had wanted was the backing of someone, anyone. To tell her that her dreams were valid.

"Anytime, Hermione." Harry assured her.

He made a mental note to make sure that the Hermione of his world felt the same when he returned. That she felt her ideas and beliefs and ambitions were supported.

Maybe he'd make a strawberry cheesecake for her too.

He opened up the locket on his neck and Hermione froze, her eyes closed as a heart crystal formed over her heart. This one was a light gold color.

Leave it to Hermione to have a heart of gold, Harry thought.

"Well?" He asked as Chocolate hopped from his shirt pocket and onto his shoulder.

"This heart doesn't hold the Sugar Rune either." Chocolate informed him.

Harry let out a sigh. He took the heart crystal and allowed his locket to absorb it. It might come in handy later. You never knew, right?

Hermione blinked, as though breaking from a daze. She tensed and her face grew a little redder,

"Um…thank you, Harry."

"You're welcome." Harry told her, "Tell you what, when OWLs are over, I'll bake you whatever you want. Any desert. This time I'll let you choose. Think about it until then, okay?"  
"I…yeah." Hermione nodded, "You don't need to…"  
"Your accomplishments are worth celebrating. I'm not sure I can get on board with all your ideas, but I'll do my best to support them, okay?"

Hermione nodded again.

"Goodnight, Hermione." He told her.  
"Goodnight, Harry."

Harry lay in bed the next morning, opening and closing his locket and staring at the tinny gems which had appeared inside. There were two of them now. One blue and one a light gold. He'd gotten two girls to fall in love with him and still…he had no freaking clue how he was going to find the Sugar Rune.

"There has to be an easier way." Harry murmured, "I mean…it could be anyone, right?"  
"No." Chocolate hopped up onto his bed, "Not just anyone could have the Sugar Rune hidden away. Magic creates a special barrier around people that messes with our tracking equipment. If it were in a person's heart who didn't have magic then we could track it easily. Furthermore, the Sugar Rune is definitely in Britain."  
"So, a witch or a wizard has it." Harry concluded.

"Exactly." Chocolate nodded, "Furthermore, it could only be in the heart of someone who can feel love."  
"So, we can eliminate Voldemort at least." Harry said quietly, not wanting to wake anyone up.

"Overall, there's actually a high chance that the Sugar Rune is at Hogwarts." Chocolate continued.

She'd said that before, but Harry hadn't known her reasoning until now.

"The most idea place for any talisman to hide is in a younger heart. They tend to be stronger and more hopeful." Chocolate explained, "Talisman are attracted to that."  
"I see…that makes sense." Harry murmured, "But it still feels like a needle in a haystack. I'm not going to have time to search everyone's crystal heart at this rate."  
"For now, this is the best method." Chocolate said sadly, "But I'll tell you if I come up with any better ideas."

"Please do." Harry got up off his bed.

"By the way," Chocolate said, "Your next target is Ron."  
Harry nearly fell off his bed.

Ron apparently was already starting to develop feelings for Harry, according to Chocolate. It had started shortly after he'd made that cheesecake.

"Well, men like a partner that can cook too." Chocolate said in response, "Your cooking is good and maybe Ron is secretly looking for that in a partner."

Harry felt embarrassed by this. Ron was already developing feelings for him?  
"I did say it before, didn't I? You have the Blessing of Aphrodite. That means anyone can fall for you. With you, gender doesn't matter."

Harry would beg to differ, but he still had no idea what the Blessing of Aphrodite entailed or how he had even gotten it!

Okay, well…at this point Ron was secretly training himself to be a keeper for the quidditch team.

It was later in the evening every day.

Harry made his way outside, a broom in hand only to find that Ron wasn't at the quidditch pitch at all.

Why? Where could he be?

He went for a fly by himself for a while, only to give up when nothing happened.

He returned to the common room. Ron was reading a book on quidditch. He looked…upset?  
"Hey." Harry sat down beside him, "What's wrong? You look…sad?"  
Ron scooted away,

"I'm not." He said defensively.

Harry's eyes traveled to the book,

"Quidditch, huh? You play?"

"A bit…" Ron squirmed a bit.

"Any good?"  
"I think I am." Ron said.

"You on the team?"

"No." Ron said and Harry could tell he'd hit a nerve.

"Why not?"  
"Why the questions?" Ron asked him, standing up.

Harry blinked up at him,

"I think it's strange is all. You seem like someone who'd be on the quidditch team. I mean, just by talking to you, I can tell you're really passionate."  
Ron seemed to calm down a bit, face reddening slightly,

"Er, thanks. Well…truth is, I can't afford a broom."  
"Oh." Harry tilted his head to the side. He looked over at his broom, an idea popping into his head, "Why not trade?"  
"Trade?" Ron furrowed his brow.

"I have another broom." Harry lied, "It's not here right now. It was given to me by…well, someone I have issues with. Frankly, I just want it out of my sight. I'm willing to part ways with it. Make me an offer. A jersey, a good book, whatever."  
"Really?" Ron's eyes widened.

"Yeah. I can get it to you in two days maybe? Until then, you can use my broom to practice." Harry showed him the broom, "You'll have to work hard, but if it's you, I'm sure you can pull it off."  
"I…thanks, mate." Ron said disbelievingly, "What do you want in return though?"

Harry pondered on this, thinking about what he might be allowed to have that wasn't too sentimental or too much.

"Tell me a bit about that book."

Sneaking out to buy a broom was a bit odd. He knew all the secret passages and he knew how to use them.

He found a broom store and bought a broom with Chocolate's money. The frog was more than happy to purchase it if it meant another heart crystal.

It was a nimbus two thousand, ironically enough.

When Ron caught sight of it, his mouth fell open.  
"Mate…are you sure? I mean, my book isn't good enough for a nimbus!"  
Harry shrugged his shoulders,

"Don't worry. Like I said, it was a spiteful gift. Even my dad doesn't want it around. Just promise that I don't ever have to ride it again and we're good."

"I…okay." Ron took the broom in his hands, completely entranced.

"Now, let's go practice!" Harry said with a grin, "I'll take some shots on you to see how you've improved."

"Thanks, mate! You're the best. Really."

Harry felt the locket on his chest getting slightly warm. But only slightly. Ron's heart crystal was nearly his.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sugar, Sugar, Sugar. We're all Crazy About Sugar!**

**Ron likes Harry, Hermione likes Harry, Luna likes Harry, we all like Harry! And who wouldn't?**

**I…don't know what the pairing is here. But I think I'll be touching on some of the relationships in the original world a bit.**

**Harry can make anyone fall in love with him, remember? Why would it have all started in an alternate reality?**

**Once again, I do not own Harry Potter.**

The day of tryouts was the next day and Harry sat in the stands to watch him. It seemed that he was alone. Hermione was focused on writing another article on SPEW for the Quibbler and apparently needed some time to herself.

Harry clapped every time Ron saved a Quaffle.

He seemed to be doing pretty well, Harry observed. By the end of it, he had managed to save six shots while his competition, McLagan only managed five.

Harry ran up to Ron, a big grin on his face,

"You were incredible, Ron! That was absolutely brilliant!"  
Harry felt the locket heat up again.

It wasn't enough. Not quite.

"I wasn't, really." Ron murmured.

"You were." Harry insisted, "You had some steep competition, but you managed to pull through. You were really cool out there…I'm going to have to bake something for you, aren't I?"  
Ron's eyes widened,

"I…but, I mean…like what?" He finished.

"Whatever you want." Harry said, "Anything."  
Ron shook his head,

"I can't let you do that for me, mate."

"If you don't tell me what you want, I'm going to have to guess." Harry said.

"I…"  
"Guessing it is then." Harry grinned, "Any excuse to bake Ron. I love doing this stuff!"  
"Just…I don't need a cake or anything." He murmured.

Was he embarrassed?

"I can work within those parameters." Harry decided.

And he did. Later that evening, Harry baked some red velvet cupcakes and added cream cheese frosting on the top with yellow food coloring so that it looked Gryffindorish. He added red sprinkles to the top, then brought them up to Ron.

"Mate, this is too much." Ron said, despite the delighted look on his face.

"Nonsense." Harry brushed away, "You made the team. You deserve it, Ron. Here. I have tin a for you, so you can store them away if you want for later."  
Ron took one of them and took a bite.

"Merlin, these are amazing!" He moaned, "You could open your own bakery or something, Harr."  
Harry felt flattered.

He felt his locket heat up.

All Ron had wanted was some recognition. Someone who thought he was special and unique. Set apart from his brothers in some way.

He took the locket out and opened it up. Ron closed his eyes, cupcake still in hand. A blood red heart crystal appeared over his heart.

"Well?" Harry asked Chocolate.

The frog hopped out of his pocket.

"Not this one either." Chocolate said sadly.

Darn.

He took the crystal and put it to his locket where it shrank and turned into a small gem imbedded inside.

There were three heart crystals now.

Ron woke from his daze, then took another bite from the cupcake, quickly finishing it all off. He looked up at Harry and his face turned red.

"Er…would you, um…like one? I mean, I can't eat them myself. Not all of them and…food tastes better when it's shared, you know?"  
Harry smiled at him and took one of the cupcakes.

The best Harry could do for the time being was be friendly and introduce himself to new people. He didn't have any targets in mind per say. He supposed it didn't matter which order he won people over in either. He was starting to come up with a few candidates though. Parvati Patil, Lavender Brown, Fay Dunbar, all of which were easy targets, considering they were in Gryffindor.

Susan Bones was on friendly terms with him, as was Hannah Abbott.

Harry had been tense until the end of October. Their Hogsmeade weekend came up and Harry was invited to go with Luna…and then Ron and Hermione had wanted to accompany them and it turned into a big group outing.

It was…awkward to say the least.

Harry was suddenly aware that his friends were actually in love with him.

"Ooh, we should go in there." Hermione pointed to a book store.

"What about candy?" Ron asked Harry.

"Er…how about we just stop for a butterbeer?" Harry finally realized he was going to have to make a decision eventually, and he couldn't choose either of their options less he be picking favourites and upsetting them all.

_This is so weird,_ he thought to himself exasperatedly.

Before they could enter, however, the air seemed to freeze and Harry tensed.

"What's wrong?" Ron asked him, shifting a little uncomfortably.

Harry turned around suddenly. He could see his breath now, despite it having been not too cold only moments ago.

"Dementors." Harry whispered.

"What?" Ron paled. All the freckles on his face stood out as he paled.

None of them moved for the longest time. None of them spoke either.

"We need to get back to Hogwarts." Harry realized.

But maybe they had waited a little too long. Because as soon as he decided this, the screams started and the sky grew dark as the dementors began to swarm.

"Go! Run!" Harry ushered them all.

"Harry!" Harry hardly caught Chocolate's whisper.

"What?" Harry whispered back.

"This is fear magic!"  
"Fear…" Harry murmured.

"Love can beat fear! Those heart crystals you've been collecting…you can use those powers to fight the dementors off!"  
"Really?" Harry wondered.  
As they rounded a corner, Harry saw Draco Malfoy smirking, standing in an alley. He also saw a Death Eater behind him holding out his wand.

"Draco, watch out!" Harry shouted. He conjured up a swarm of birds which shot out towards the dark curse the Death Eater sent his way.

Malfoy turned around, stunned.

The Death Eater quickly launched a curse towards him, only for the earth to rise up at Harry's feat. The spell broke it apart, but Harry transfigured the remains of the wall into knives, banishing them towards the Death Eater, who was unable to dodge and was quickly impaled.

Harry felt his locket heat up.

_You have to be kidding me._ He thought, looking up at Malfoy who was staring at him with wide eyes.

He supposed it sort of made sense though. If someone saved his life and they were really pretty, then he guessed he'd fall for them too?

Harry ran up to him and grabbed him by the hand,

"We need to get you to Hogwarts." Harry said firmly, "These guys aren't discriminating. They just want to spread terror."  
"I…" Malfoy looked confused a moment, then Harry pulled him along, letting go of his hand when it became clear that he was going to follow.

"That was amazing." Ron gapped at Harry, "You're…really good at fighting, huh?"  
"We can talk later." Harry told him, "For now, we just have to focus on getting back to the castle."

They all froze as they turned to find a dementor standing there (floating there?) over a body. A woman who stared up at the sky blankly.

She'd been kissed, Harry realized. He took out his wand.

"Expecto patronum!" A stag leaped out of his wand, driving the creature away.

"You can cast a patronus!?" Hermione gapped at him with bewilderment.

"Er, yeah." Harry said, "Learned when I was thirteen. I had a really good teacher."  
Malfoy was looking at him with admiration and Harry was trying really hard not to think about it.

Okay, so…this time it really hadn't been his fault. He hadn't even tried to get anyone to fall in love with him. He didn't need to feel guilty about it…right?

The stag vanished.

"A full, corporeal patronus…" Hermione murmured. It was as though her brain had shut down.

Harry cast a stunner as a Death Eater ran by, hitting him in the side and causing him to fall to the ground.

"We need to go!" Harry decided.

Another dementor landed on the ground in front of them. Apparently, it had deemed them as a threat. Harry quickly asserted himself in front of the group protectively.

"Expecto Patronum!" Another patronus shot out of his wand, causing the dementor to go running.

"Keep moving." Harry urged them, "We need to get out of here."

They kept on moving towards Hogwarts.

The school was in sight now. Harry stopped a moment, eyes wide as he watched Lily and James Potter fighting for their lives against a hoard of Death Eaters.

They looked bloody and battle warn. It was clear that the two of them were only trying to stall and the Death Eaters knew it. Taunting them. Maybe even playing with them a bit.

James succumbed to the Cruciatus curse first, falling to the ground. Lily tried to help him, but she was having enough trouble trying to fend off the spells aimed at herself.

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up!" Harry told them.

"Wait, Harry!" Ron called after him as he turned back down the lane his parents in this dimension were fighting and out of view of the others.

"Let's go." Hermione urged, "I think Harry can handle himself."  
"But…"  
"We need to move, Weasley!" Malfoy shouted at him, "We'll only…we'll only slow him down."  
Harry's locket opened up and Harry felt magic pass through him. He decided on the pale blue gem. Luna's gem. A heart crystal formed in front of him and he grabbed it. There was a glow of light in the palm of his hand before it changed into some sort of sceptre. He held it out and a dome of light formed in front of Lily and James.

The two were surprised as a killing curse jumped off of it. Something that should have been impossible.

The two of them turned around to see Harry. He waved the rod and the shield turned into a wave of pale blue light which knocked the Death Eaters over. They were too stunned to counter.

The rod turned back into a blue heart crystal, then moved into his locket and faded. A small blue gem appeared, imbedded into the metal once more. He closed the locket shut, then started running back towards the castle.

"Wait!" Lily shouted after him. She started running after him and her husband followed behind her.

Harry looked over his shoulder. They were following him?

Well, he had displayed some rather impossible magic.

"Please, stop!" Lily shouted after him.

Harry stopped, turning to look over at them.

"How did you…" James trailed off, finally stopping in front of him.

In an instant, Harry's wand was out, two silent spells were sent right passed James who turned to see two Death Eaters laying on the ground, now stunned.

Harry lowered his wand uncertainly,

"Now isn't the time for this."

"Then when will be the time?" James burst, "Who are you? Why do you look so much like…" He couldn't finish that sentence.

Harry winced, giving him a knowing look.

"I'm sorry." He apologised, "I didn't think that you two would be at Hogwarts. The last thing I wanted was to cause anyone pain. I'll tell you." Harry decided, "But…not now."  
He waved his hand over his locket. A blood red heart crystal appeared over top and he grabbed it. In his hands it turned into a ruby colored bow. He drew back the string and a blazing arrow appeared. Fire danced around his feet as he took aim at the dementors in the sky.

He had a plan.

If he could destroy some dementors, then Voldemort might think that Dumbledore had some sort of weapon he was unaware of and start a retreat.

Five arrows were shot, each hitting their targets. The dementors burned up in the sky.

"That's impossible!" James shook his head, gapping at Harry, "Dementors…dementors can't be destroyed! That's not…that doesn't make any sense!"  
"Dementors are an amalgamation of fear magic." Harry said slowly, not taking his eyes off the swarm, "And there are ways of defeating fear. Specifically, with another emotion. Why do you think the patronus works so well?"  
Alright, so he had only _just_ learned this trick. Still, once he knew it, it seemed quite obvious.

The dementors twisted away, suddenly fearful of the flaming arrows which torched the sky.

Harry's arrows seemed to double in number, shooting off towards the creatures and hitting them all on target. He'd probably just reduced the dementor population by three quarters. A heavy hit.

Harry rested, looking around and vanishing the bow which turned back into a heart crystal and returned to his locket.

"Time to go." Harry decided, then turned around and started running once more back towards the school.

"You still haven't explained anything!" James shouted, feeling more confused than he could ever remember feeling.


	7. Chapter 7

**Has anyone guessed who has the Sugar Rune yet? No?**

**I do not own Harry Potter.**

"This one doesn't contain the Sugar Rune either." Chocolate shook her head as Harry took Malfoy's heart crystal and put it in his locket.

"Another failure, huh?" Harry let out a sigh, "Well…at least they're helpful when fighting off danger."  
Malfoy broke from his trance, his face reddened,

"G-go away, Wintergreen!" he sputtered out.

"Alright." Harry said, a little confused by the reaction.

When people fell in love, they usually wanted to spend more time around said person, right?

Well, Draco was kind of weird…

Once Harry had left, Draco pulled the sheets up to his face, his heart beating quickly and his face hot.

He didn't get it. Why did he feel so weird being around Wintergreen? It didn't make any sense…

He put a hand to his chest, hoping his heart would calm down. After a while, it did.

Harry headed out of the hospital wing, only to be approached by Dumbledore, the headmaster himself.

"Mister Wintergreen." His eyes were sparkling.  
He didn't seem mad at all, Harry observed, just very, very curious.

"I was wondering if I might have a word with you in my office. Professor Potter and her husband spoke to me about what happened in Hogsmeade and I have a few questions."

"Alright." Harry decided.

He'd been hoping to keep it a secret from the Lily and James of this world.

They'd lost their son, and seeing him…well, he didn't want them to be haunted, as he was, over what might have been.

"This way, then." Dumbledore gestured for him to follow.

"Alright." Harry said, walking alongside him.

They walked a bit before the headmaster spoke,

"I heard about the magic you cast in Hogsmeade. I find it shocking that someone your age would have found a way to cast magic of that calibre."

"Well, I'm not the one who figured it out, sir." Harry said awkwardly, "I'm just the one who executed it."

Dumbledore looked over at him,

"I see…"  
He didn't say anything else their whole trip to his office.

Dumbledore spoke his password to the gargoyle who let them pass upstairs. They entered the office. It was just as Harry had remembered it.

He vaguely wondered, when he returned to Hogwarts, if maybe his office would still be the same too.

Dumbledore sat down. He conjured up another chair for Harry across from him.

"Now then," Dumbledore spoke, deciding to kick off the meeting, "I've known a long while now that Harry Wintergreen was a false name. I turned a blind eye because I got the sense that you were in a bad situation. Now, I feel I ought to ask, who are you really?"

Harry bit his lower lip. He knew that he was going to have to tell the truth.

"I guess I could use an ally." Harry drew in a deep breath, "I'm…kind of in a bit of trouble." He confessed.

"Trouble?" Dumbledore repeated, "Care to elaborate?"  
"I'm not from this world." Harry told him, "My name is Harry Potter."

Dumbledore's eyes widened,

"Ah…as in, the son of Lily and James Potter? The one who died?"  
"Probably." Harry said with an uncertain look, "But not really. I'm from another reality. Kind of like this one and kind of not. The reason I'm at Hogwarts is because I'm searching for an artifact. A talisman. I'm stranded in this dimension until I can find it. I know how insane that sounds…"  
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, he met Harry's gaze and Harry felt his mind being breached. He decided it was best to just allow him to search his memories.

Dumbledore withdrew, an awestruck look on his face,

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to divulge some information involving the war back in your world, would you?"

"I could do that." Harry decided, "But…first I want to know if you'll let me stay…and that you won't tell the Lily and James Potter of this world who I am."  
"I won't tell them." Dumbledore decided slowly, "I believe I understand your reasons."

"I'm not that boy." Harry said calmly, feeling a small twinge in his chest, "They don't need a ghost floating around to haunt them like that. Had I known they were going to be here or their circumstances, I would have changed my first name as well."  
The headmaster nodded sadly,

"They suspect you are their child…I can honestly say that I suspected it too. In a way, we were right. I will tell them that you are not their son. Is that okay?"  
"Yeah." Harry said softly, "I think that will save them some heartache."

Dumbledore looked back at him sadly,

"I can see you've grown into a fine young man. If the Harry Potter of this world were still alive…Ah, I suspect this is the very reason you wish to keep this a secret."  
"Yeah…" Harry murmured.

"Might I inquire about the magical device you've been wearing?" He asked Harry.

"It's actually a special storage device." Harry confessed, pulling it out from under his shirt, "It's meant to store heart crystals. A heart crystal is a materialized form of love magic."  
Dumbledore's eyebrows rose to meet his hairline,

"Something like that would be very powerful. May I ask how you've obtained them?"

Harry shifted a bit,

"The Sugar Rune…my way home is hidden inside of someone here at Hogwarts. I don't know who."  
Dumbledore frowned,

"If it's hidden inside of someone…"  
"The only way to get it is to either kill them, or make that person fall in love with me and materialize their heart crystals. Since I have no plans on becoming a murderer…I've been making people fall in love with me."  
Dumbledore tensed,

"How?"

"Mostly baking." Harry admitted, face reddening a bit, "Helping with homework, er, saving people's lives? Although, that last one was more of an accident."  
Dumbledore's eyebrows met his forehead as he entered Harry's mind. He gave a low chuckle.

"Here I was worried you might be using potions…"  
"That wouldn't work." Harry shook his head, "The love has to come from their heart, sir, otherwise a crystal wouldn't be produced. Er, yeah." His face turned a little redder, "Sorry. I don't want to hurt anyone…I thought this might be the safest method."  
Dumbledore felt his smile grow a bit.

This boy hardly realized that he was getting them to fall in love with him just by actively being himself!

The ability to control love…what a mysterious power this child possessed. He wondered if his alternate had suspected…then again, it was such a subtle ability that perhaps it had gone over his head completely. He might not have realized it had he not seen it in Harry's memory.

More importantly…he was winning the students over. The students who had only known hatred for so long were starting to feel his powers. He wondered a bit at the outcome of such a force.

He couldn't predict what Harry's power would lead to, but he had a gut feeling. After all, love was a powerful force.

"Might I make a suggestion for your next target?" The headmaster twinkled.

A bit taken aback; Harry nodded.

The headmaster smiled, then told him about the person he had in mind.

…..

00000000000000000

….

"Severus!" Voldemort hissed as one of his most trusted Death Eaters knelt at his throne.

"Yes, my lord?" Snape kept his head bowed.

"Why was I not informed of this…weapon of Dumbledore's?"  
"Weapon, my lord?" Snape was genuinely lost.

"Crucio!"  
Snape fell to the ground, body spasming with pain. He let out a long, strangled scream. Finally, the curse let up.

"Whatever destroyed the dementors." Voldemort snarled.

Snape let out a small gasp, then got back to his feet,

"I asked him." The potions master gritted his teeth, "About what had destroyed the dementors in Hogsmeade. He appeared clueless. However…witnesses say they saw a young man draw a flaming bow and arrow which killed the dementors. They thought he looked like a student."  
"A student?" Voldemort repeated.

A student couldn't have done _that_. The magic that had been cast must have been advanced. Nothing he was aware of could destroy a dementor, after all.

"Find him." Voldemort growled, "I want you to find him and then bring him to me."  
"Yes, my lord." Snape bowed once more, then backed away.

He knew exactly who the perpetrator was. There was much about Harry Wintergreen that he didn't know nor understand.

He looked like Potter. But he had Lily's eyes.

The moment he had laid eyes on the boy, he knew that he was Lily's son. That somehow, he was Harry Potter. He saw the emotions, the conflict on Lily's face whenever he was near her. Like she wanted to reach out. To say something.

All the guilty had come back to punch him in the stomach when Snape looked at him.

He'd never gotten over his guilt in the first place. But with this boy…

Severus Snape was at a complete loss.

…

00000000000000000000

….

Cedric Diggory had survived that horrible night of the third task in the Triwizard Tournament. He couldn't say as much about pour Neville.

He'd been lucky.

So lucky that he hadn't seen what had happened.

Neville had offered to take the cup together. They'd tried to do just that, only Neville had been just a fraction of a second faster than him. It had been an accident, still…

He'd returned a corpse and Cedric had realized just how close he had come to dying. A lot of people, his close friends had thought that he had had something to do with Longbottom's death. Even the Daily Prophet had speculated.

He'd gone from the most popular boy in the school to pariah so fast that it had left him dizzy and confused.

He'd quite the quidditch team. It was his last year, but he didn't have the heart to continue.  
No one talked to him anymore. Some of them still thought he was somehow involved.

No one talked to him until that evening.

"Hey." A boy with messy, black hair and the most startling green eyes he had ever seen greeted him, "Can I sit here?"  
"Why?" Cedric asked him suspiciously.

The boy let out a sigh,

"All the other tables look so bare."  
Why was he talking to him? Didn't he know he was going to drive everyone around him away if he associated with him?

"I'm Harry." He introduced himself.

"Cedric." For some reason, he couldn't push him away.

There was something strange about this boy. Oh, right. He was a transfer student, wasn't he? Cedric bet he didn't know.

"You know, not a lot of people like me." Cedric told him slowly.

"Why? You seem nice enough." Harry said simply.

"People think I was involved in Longbottom's death." Cedric confessed.

Harry's eyebrows rose with surprise.

Well, nice having some human contact while it lasted, Cedric thought, figuring the boy would leave him now.

"Were you?"

"Of course, not!" Cedric looked up at him suddenly.

"Then what's the big deal?" Harry said, looking at his book cover, "Defense Against the Dark Arts? What are you working on?"  
Cedric gave him an incredulous look.

"You're just going to trust that I didn't do it? Just like that?"  
"I'm pretty good at telling when people are lying." Harry said, "You aren't lying, so why wouldn't I trust you?"

Cedric felt his face heat up a bit.

What was wrong with him?

"So…Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Harry asked him

"Huh?" Cedric wondered.

"_Dementors and All You Need to Know About Them._" Harry read the cover of his book, "Sounds like Defense Against the Dark Arts homework to me."  
It was strange seeing Cedric again, Harry thought. Why Dumbledore had recommended Cedric as a target was a little beyond him.

It wasn't like he needed an excuse to target anyone. He needed to target as many people as possible in order to find the Sugar Rune.

"_Could you please choose Cedric Diggory as your next target? He's very troubled right now and in these dark times, it's terribly easy to fall to the dark."_

A lot of people were troubled right now, Harry thought to himself, a little confused by the request.

Why was the headmaster taking a special interest in Cedric?

Although…it was nice to see him again.

He felt his heart ache a little. Cedric's death had been the first casualty of the war. Yet, here he was. Alive.

Odd. Now that he really thought about it, Cedric seemed kind of…troubled.

A far cry from the popular, happy boy he'd known.

He'd been blamed for the death of the Neville Longbottom in this world. If he was anything like Harry, he probably blamed himself too. He had no one to say that it wasn't his fault.

"I'm not a dark wizard." Cedric said suddenly.

"I never said you were." Harry said, wondering why he was bringing this up at all.

Cedric let out a sigh,  
"Yeah, but everyone else thinks I am. I left Neville to die and now the world has no hope. I also…I can't cast a patronus."  
"A lot of wizards can't." Harry paused, "Oh." He was starting to understand, "You want to prove you aren't a dark wizard by casting a patronus?"  
Cedric felt his face heat up again,

"It's…well, how else am I supposed to prove it? That I'm not, you know, what everyone says I am."

Harry hummed, thinking about this a bit,

"Why don't I teach you?"  
"You?" Cedric said incredulously, "No offence, but aren't you a fifth year?"  
"I'm a bit ahead of the curriculum. At least in defense. It's my best subject. I'll show you." Harry took out his wand, then twirled it around, "Expecto Patronum."  
A stag leaped out of his wand and Cedric's eyes widened.

"That's…you can really cast a patronus." Determination set in as he looked back at Harry, "Teach me. I'll do anything to learn."  
Harry gave him an odd look,

"You don't need to do anything for me. I mean, you have NEWTs coming up, right? Besides, with Voldemort using dementors, I think it's important for people to learn this stuff anyways. No matter the reason."  
Cedric looked surprised,

"You…don't want anything in exchange?"  
"Well…" Harry trailed off, "Just, if you see someone being attacked by dementors, use what I teach you to protect them, and to protect yourself. That's all I'll ask. Seem fair?"

Cedric felt…strange. He didn't understand. Who was this guy? Why was he so intent on helping him?

He agreed regardless.

He could prepare himself if it was just another trap or meanspirited trick.

He was expecting it.

Harry hung around as he continued to read. He took out his own homework and started working on it. Cedric looked over at his work a couple of times.

From what little he could glean, it seemed Harry really was some sort of defense prodigy.


End file.
